This isn't exactly Tosche Station, huh?

Luke reached up, massaged the headache that had sprung up between his eyebrows and finished the dregs of his long-since stone cold hot chocolate.

All of the information he'd found on Joruus C'baoth--which was mostly tinged with his father's imperfect recollection (he hadn't even been able to spell the guy's name right)--and he stil couldn't figure out why he'd ended up on Wayland, of all places.

Something felt off about this whole thing, but he couldn't exactly turn his back on even a rumor a living, breathing Jedi Master in his own galaxy.

His calls to Anakin were going to voicemail, so he tried Jaina instead. Maybe she'd be able to set his mind at ease.

[OOC: for the granddaughter ten years older than him!]

JORUS C'BAOTH. HUMAN. BORN IN REITECAS, ON BORTRAS, ON 4\3\112. PRE-EMPIRE DATE.

Luke made a face as he watched the words scroll up the Old Senate Library computer screen. What was it about new regimes, he wondered, that one of their first official acts always seemed to be the creation of a new dating system, which they then went and applied to all existing historical records? The Galactic Empire had done that, as had the Old Republic before it. He could only hope that the New Republic wouldn't follow suit. History was hard enough to keep track of as it was.        

ATTENDED MIRNIC UNIVERSITY 6\4\95 TO 4\32\90 PE. ATTENDED JEDI TRAINING CENTER ON KAMPARAS 2\15\90 TO 8\33\8 PE. PRIVATE JEDI TRAINING BEGUN 9\88 PE; INSTRUCTOR UNKNOWN. GRANTED TITLE OF JEDI KNIGHT 3\6\86 PE. OFFICIALLY ASSUMED TITLE OF JEDI MASTER 4\3\74 PE. SUMMARY ENDS FURTHER DETAILS OF SCHOOLING AND TRAINING?        

"No," Luke said, frowning. C'baoth had assumed the title of Jedi Master? He'd always been under the impression that that title, like the rank of Jedi Knight itself, was something that was granted by the rest of the Jedi community and not simply self-proclaimed. "Give me the highlights of his record as a Jedi."        

MEMBER OF ANDO DEMILITARIZATION OBSERVATION GROUP 8\82 TO 7\81 PE. MEMBER OF SENATE INTERSPECIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE 9\81 TO 6\79 PE. PERSONAL JEDI ADVISER TO SENATOR PALPATINE 6\79 TO's\77—        

"Stop," Luke ordered, a sudden shiver running up his back. Jedi adviser to Senator Palpatine? "Detail C'baoth's service to Senator Palpatine."  

The computer seemed to consider the request. UNAVAILABLE, the answer came at last.

"Unavailable, or just classified?" Luke countered. UNAVAILABLE, the computer repeated.        

Luke grimaced. But there was little he could do about it for the moment. "Continue."        

MEMBER OF JEDI FORCE ASSEMBLED TO OPPOSE THE DARK JEDI INSURRECTION ON BPFASSH 7\77 TO 1\74 PE. ASSISTED IN RESOLVING ALDERAAN ASCENDANCY CONTENTION 11\7O PE. ASSISTED JEDI MASTER TRA'S M'INS IN MEDIATION OF DUINUOGWUIN-GOTAL CONFLICT l\68 TO 4\66 PE. NAMED AMBASSADOR AT LARGE TO XAPPYH SECTOR 8\21\62 PE BY SENATE. HIGHLY INSTRUMENTAL IN CONVINCING SENATE TO AUTHORIZE AND FUND OUTBOUND FLIGHT PROJECT. ONE OF SIX JEDI MASTERS ATTACHED TO PROJECT 7\7\65 PE. NO RECORD EXISTS AFTER PROJECT DEPARTURE FROM YAGA MINOR, 4\1\64.

Luke leaned back in his chair, gazing at the display and chewing at the inside of his cheek. So not only had C'baoth once been an adviser to the man who would someday declare himself Emperor, but he'd also been part of the attack against those Dark Jedi from the Sluis sector that Leia had told him about. One of whom had survived long enough to face Master Yoda on Dagobah.

He reached for his comlink, hoping it wasn't too late (or early, or something) in Georgetown. "Hey, Dad? It's me. I have a few questions about a Jedi named Jorus C'baoth..."

Luke was checking his messages.

This wasn't in itself unusual, except for the ones he was hoping to receive.

He wasn't crazy enough to think that Karrde's second in command, Mara Jade, would be dropping him a friendly note. Maybe a thermal detonator, but not a note...

So in an attempt to get her out of his head, he'd signed up on a galactic dating site. His dating history wasn't that extensive--Tori, Jo, a Rogue pilot who'd turned out to be evil that he'd shot down...and watching Han and Leia together made him want something like that for himself.

With a redhead, maybe.

...dammit, he was back where he started.

With an empty inbox. Was he completely undatable? "Maybe they think I'm not really Luke Skywalker?" he said aloud.

To no one. Sigh.

[OOC: This is entirely Natalie, Shanie & Len's fault.]

Luke had spent the last several days sitting in truly uncomfortable chairs (Luke was beginning to suspect they had been designed specifically to hit him in the small of his back) between time standing in line to harass increasingly harried-looking customer service representatives and calls to Leia and Han.

Admiral Ackbar's complete disappearance from anyone's memory but his own had been the start of the problems: there were now entire swaths of the galaxy that only Luke remembered. He had a really bad feeling about this, and he wasn't about to leave his sister, his best friend, and their two unborn babies here to ride out whatever this was.

His comm beeped with a new message and his blood ran cold as he listened to Gavin's voice. He called back--not that he expected an answer--then marched back to the line. "I need to get to Fandom," he said. "Passage for three." He imbued his voice with the Force. "You will set this up for me."

The Bothan behind the desk looked befuddled. "I will set this up for you."

"Finally," Luke breathed, flipping his comm on and dialing Leia's number for the 500th time that day. "Leia, it's Luke. Get Han and your bags and get down here now. It's going to take about nine transfers--" and a pretty hefty mindwhammy since Leia wasn't exactly a frequent flier, "but we'll get back to Fandom before things get worse."

There was a long pause on the other end.

Finally Leia's voice asked, "Who's Han?"

Luke tried very hard not to cry.

Luke knew Jedi weren't supposed to hate--it was counterproductive, a waste of energy and led to the Dark Side--but politics gave him a migraine. The Bothans were notoriously ruthless when it came to seizing even an iota of power and he was starting to do a mental shot every time they mentioned how many had died to retrieve the Death Star plans (ignoring what Palpatine had told Luke about how that had been intentional...).

And now they (well, he, anyway, Borsk Fey'lya) were trying to drive Admiral Ackbar out of the government, a supremely shortsighted and stupid move that was giving Luke one hell of a headache.

He was currently clearing out his email in an attempt to avoid the situation, even reading the spam.

Yes, it was just that bad.

Luke sank down into a chair and took what seemed to be his first breath since leaving Mykyr several weeks ago. He, Han and Lando had arrived for refueling and repair at the Sluis Van dockyards just in time to watch an impeccable, carefully planned Imperial attack (using Lando's stolen mole miners, of all things!) trying to steal the docked Republic fleet located here.

Lando remembered that he still had his list of commands for the miners, so instead of taking the fleet, they ended up just boring giant holes through the hulls, which was hardly a great thing, but was certainly better than having the ships gone for good. Or so Luke hoped the Council would understand.

They'd come back to the station to get Luke's X-Wing repaired only to run into Wedge and the Rogues and learn that Admiral Ackbar had been arrested on Coruscant, though the charges weren't entirely clear. Luke wrapped his arm over his head to suppress a groan as Wedge assured him that his ship had just been bumped to the front of the repair line.

Who would have thought that the highlight of his month was going to be having an extreme allergic reaction to a local Mykyr plant and making Mara Jade smile for all of a second?

[OOC: He's got his comlink if you want to give him some good news...]

The trilling code, coming from somewhere far behind him, startled Luke up out of his dreamless sleep. "Okay, Artoo, I'm awake," he said groggily, rubbing at his eyes. His knuckles bumped up against the visor of his flight helmet, reminding him of what the circumstances of his hibernation exercise had been.

Dead hyperdrives. No power. Great.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked, then ignored Artoo's anxious warble as he saw what had gotten the droid to wake him: another ship bearing down on them. From a first impression of the ship--a slightly dilapidated Corellian cruiser--Luke didn't think it was anything Imperial. But there wasn't much of a chance this was a random encounter, either.

The flashing radio signal on his console indicated he was being hailed. "--need assistance?" a slightly familiar female voice was asking. "Repeating: unidentified starfighter, this is the freighter Wild Karrde. Do you need assistance?"

It would take fifteen minutes for the X-Wing to power up, let alone actually move anywhere, so Luke told the truth. "As a matter of fact, yes, I could use some help."

( Where Luke meets Talon Karrde, smuggler of awesome. )

"Luke?"

The voice was soft but insistent. Luke turned to look and smiled. "Hello, Ben," he said, his voice sounding oddly tinny to his own ears. "It's been a long time."

"It has indeed," Obi-Wan answered gravely, "and I'm afraid it will be longer still until the next time. I've come to say goodbye."

The landscape trembled slightly, and a small part of Luke's mind remembered that he was asleep in his suite in the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and not, as he would thnk as he glanced around, back on Tatooine.

"No, I'm not a dream," Obi-Wan replied, answering Luke's unspoken thought. "But the distances separating us have become too great for me to appear any other way. Now even this path is being closed to me."

"No," Luke insisted. "You can't leave us, Ben. We need you." A thought struck him. "And what about Dad?"

Ben smiled softly. "You don't need me, Luke. You are a Jedi, strong in the Force. And Anakin..." His smile faded and his eyes focused on something Luke couldn't see. "At any rate, the decision is not mine to make. I have lingered too long already, and can no longer postpone my journey from this life to what lies beyond."

Strong am I in the Force, Yoda's voice whispered in Luke's memories, but not that strong.

Ben was still speaking. "You, too, will face this same journey one day." His attention drifted again, then returned. "You are strong in the Force, Luke, and with perserverance and discipline, you will grow stronger still." His gaze hardened. "But you must never relax your guard. The Emperor is gone, but the dark side is still powerful. Never forget that."

Luke's own attention drifted, thinking back to the haunted look in Fandom Jaina's eyes. "I won't," he promised.

"And now, farewell," Obi-Wan said as the vision began to waver and become fainter. "I loved you as a son, and as a student, and as a friend. And Anakin--" The Jedi became practically invisible. "Well, Anakin already knows everything I would tell him. Until we meet again, may the Force be with you both."

"Ben--!"

But Ben turned and the image faded...and Luke knew he was gone. Then I am alone, he told himself. I am the last of the Jedi. Anakin, in self-imposed exile in a different galaxy, wasn't here, and didn't count.

He seemed to hear Obi-Wan's voice from a great distance. "Not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. The first of the new."

The voice trailed off and was gone...and Luke woke up, crushed by a sudden sadness. First Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, then Obi-Wan, then Anakin (though that hadn't stuck), and now even Obi-Wan's spirit was gone. He reached for his comlink, heedless of the timezone differences that might exist, and called his father.

"Dad?" he said when the familiar voice answered the other end of the call. "I have some bad news."

[OOC: Taken, tweaked and folded into origami cranes from Timothy Zahn's Heir to Empire, 20 years old this year. Good Lord, I'm old.]

Luke trotted down the hallway, checking his chrono and frowning irritably to himself. He hadn't planned on running this late for his third lesson in teaching Leia how to be a Jedi. With her schedule of constant travel stamping out interstellar conflicts and his as, well, him, it was impressive they'd even managed to be on the same planet for three lessons.

He hoped the second lightsaber he had strapped to his belt would serve as a suitable apology for his tardiness.

Running his hands through his hair, he took a deep breath before ringing the bell. Three seconds later, he was being pulled into a bear hug by his sister. "You made it!" Leia exclaimed. "I thought you'd gotten lost. We were about to send out Rogue Squadron."

Luke laughed. "I'm fifteen minutes behind."

She smiled at him. "I was impatient to see you. Han and I have some very exciting news to tell you."

Luke watched as she and Han exchanged looks, and suddenly he knew.

"You're pregnant!"

Han frowned. "Jedi take all of the fun out of surprises."

The Holocron he'd picked up on Dathomir had been full of potentially useful information about Jedi training, which was why (between trips to Fandom) Luke had been away from Coruscant for almost a year tracking down leads.

This one, he decided as he looked around the grasslands of the planet Stewjon was interesting for more personal reasons, and even if no one here was exactly open for talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi, it was fascinating to see where he'd been born.

Yes, Luke was being a tourist. Shhh.

[OOC: The planet was named for Jon Stewart. I SWEAR TO GOD. Open for calls and texts!]